Pardew has a dig at Twitter (From Daily Echo)

Ex-Saints boss Pardew has a dig at Twitter

4:49pm Tuesday 27th November 2012 in Sport

FORMER Saints boss Alan Pardew has admitted the rise of social media such as Twitter and Facebook has “accelerated the pressure” on managers and players.

Pardew takes his Newcastle side to Stoke tomorrow night aiming to avoid a fourth successive Premier League loss.

The Toon followed up home defeats to West Ham and Swansea by losing 2-0 on Pardew’s St Mary’s return last Sunday.

Newcastle have not lost four consecutive top-flight games since the 2008-09 season, at the end of which they were relegated, and the current run of form is starkly out of character with that which they have enjoyed throughout Pardew's reign to date.

The 51-year-old has enjoyed an extended honeymoon period with fans who largely did not initially welcome his appointment almost two years ago, and he admits the current situation is his toughest yet in the job.

He said: "Yes, for sure. I don't think you need luck to win games - you like to think that the ability of your players is good enough.

"But you don't need a run of bad luck, and that's what we have had in terms of injuries.

"Forget about the Europa League, we have suffered injuries regardless of that, but those games on top of those injuries have really compounded the issue.

"But we can't moan about it. We have got what we have got and we are going to have to get on with it.

"It's time to roll our sleeves up and show our fans how much it means to us to wear the jersey and represent Newcastle."

Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Saints was arguably one of the poorest performances during the manager's tenure, and there were even murmurings over his continued presence among the more trigger-happy users of some social media platforms after the game.

Pardew said: "The new media of Twitter and Facebook are accelerating the process of pressure on managers and players.

"We have got it here - we have lost three games and it's starting to build here very, very quickly, and I think it stems from that source.

"Unfortunately, little campaigns are run that grow into something that perhaps [new Chelsea manager Rafael] Benitez fell into at the weekend.

"It's very, very difficult, but we have to deal with it. That's our job and the most important thing is to focus on our teams, focus on what we can do to improve it.

"Now we have got some improving here to do, we will make no mistake about that, not just myself and my coaching team, but my players too.

"We are conscious that we need to get a couple of results really quickly."